The Best WordPress Plugins for SEO

WordPress is one of the top platforms for small businesses to use for a website because it is relatively easy to navigate. One of the best parts of WordPress is that there are so many plugins to help you make your website your own. Plugins can also help improve your WordPress search engine optimization (SEO) and potentially increase your ranking in search results. All plugins are not created equally though, so I wanted to round up a few that I consider to be the best. Before we dive in, I want to note that this blog post is 100% opinion based on plugins I have worked with. Please feel free to comment with plugin recommendations!

What is the best WordPress plugin for metadata? 

Yoast SEO is a great WordPress plugin for metadata. The plugin allows you to easily add a unique page title and meta description to each page or blog post. It also warns you if either is longer than the recommended character count.

While there are plenty of plugins that you can use to add page titles and meta descriptions, Yoast is beneficial for more than that. The plugin can be used to make an XML sitemap, which is helpful for search engines to index your website, especially when it is added to a search engines’ Webmaster Tools. You must verify your website in Webmaster Tools first, which can easily be done in the plugin by adding the correct verification code.

What does Yoast SEO cost?

Yoast SEO has a free version, as well as a premium version for $89 a year.

Want to learn more about Yoast SEO? Visit their website or download the plugin.

What is the best WordPress plugin for site speed?

WP Fastest Cache is one of the most recommended WordPress plugins for site speed. To put it simply, the plugin helps with loading your website quickly by doing a lot of technical things most small business owners don’t want to think about. The premium version of the tool has the added benefit of image optimization. It will help identify large images which is a very common issue of slow websites. The plugin will compress large images to help improve the website’s load times.

A fast website can help create a positive user experience, which Google has put an emphasis on. Setting up the plugin is relatively easy. The process and setting options are broken down in our blog post, How to Boost Your Website to Ludicrous Speed!

What does WP Fastest Cache cost?

WP Fastest Cache Premium costs $59 and the one-time fee is well worth it. If money is tight, the free version is great to get you started though.

Want to learn more about WP Fastest Cache? Visit their website or download the plugin.

What is the best WordPress plugin for site redirects?

Redirection is the best WordPress plugin for redirects. It is a great tool if you have a handful of redirects that need to be put in place. Adding a redirect is as easy as 1, 2, 3 too. Add the slug URL, the slug URL the page should go to and click Add Redirect.

The plugin also has a bulk upload option if you are going through a larger site URL revamp and is just as easy to use.

Learn more about the redirection plugin in Netvantage’s blog post by Jerod Karam titled Redirection Plugin: How to Implement Redirects in WordPress and Why.

What does Redirection cost?

Redirection is completely free. There isn’t a paid option to even consider.

Want to learn more about Redirection? Visit their website or download the plugin.

What is the best WordPress plugin for Google Analytics?

MonsterInsights is the plugin we typically use to add Google Analytics to a website. It is the easy way of adding your Google Analytics tracking code to your website, without having to mess with editing the header of a website. MonsterInsights is great if all you want to do is add the Google Analytics tracking code to your website. The free version doesn’t offer up much more than that though.

What does MonsterInsights cost?

Like I said, there is a free version of MonsterInsights which is sufficient for adding the Google Analytics tracking code to your website. If you are wanting to get more in-depth with the plugin, then pricing starts at $199.

Want to learn more about MonsterInsights? Visit their website or download the plugin.

What is the best WordPress plugin for a table of contents?

The best WordPress plugin to add a table of contents to a page is Easy Table of Contents. The plugin uses the headers in the content of your page or blog post to create a table of contents. It is easy to make changes to the table of contents too by eliminating certain heading tags, individual headings, or changing the wording in the table without editing the header in the content. One of my favorite parts of the tool is that you can be very specific about which page or blog posts have a table of content or even have a table of contents on any page on your website with headings.

As search engines continue to put a focus on quality content, which can oftentimes be lengthy, headers are a great way to split up content. Adding a table of contents to lengthy content also makes it easy for readers to navigate to certain parts of your content too. You can see the plugin in action in our dental SEO guide blog post.

What does Easy Table of Contents cost?

Easy Table of Contents is free.

Want to learn more about Easy Table of Contents? Download the plugin.

Lexie Kimball

Lexie is an Account Manager at Netvantage Marketing, an online marketing company that specializes in SEO, PPC and social media. At Netvantage, Lexie assists with online marketing campaigns and social media outreach.

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